‘We’re not advocating for vigilantism here’
Rural residents should be able to use ‘reasonable force’ in self-defence: Kenney
If a rural property owner shoots someone on their farm, prosecutors should have to consider the shooter’s proximity to police and whether they thought the intruder was on drugs before charging them, UCP Leader Jason Kenney said Wednesday.
“We’re not advocating for vigilantism here. People should not take the law into their own hands, but they have every right to use reasonable force in self-defence, especially when they’re in a remote area and feeling vulnerable,” he said.
Kenney made the comments as he unveiled his party’s crime platform Wednesday morning at a farm outside Edmonton, saying prosecutors must “take into account the unique vulnerability of people in rural areas.”
“We need to let rural Albertans ... know they do have the legal authority under the Criminal Code to use reasonable force in self-defence,” he said.
The change to the Crown prosecutor manual would come alongside implementation of the UCP’s rural crime strategy.
Developed last year, the strategy is thick with recommendations, including creating a provincial police response system, forcing police to produce quarterly reports on every incoming call and the response provided, and contemplating front licence plates for Alberta vehicles.
It would also establish an electronic database to share evidence and forensic reports and strip criminals of government benefits until they pay court fines.
KENNEY PROMISES TO SHRED COURT TRIAGING
Kenney said Wednesday he would “shred” the provincial directive that Crown prosecutors must triage cases as a result of the Jordan decision, which had courts around Canada scrambling to comply with the ruling that cases must go to trial in a timely manner.
Prior to that, Alberta’s former Progressive Conservative government pushed the federal government for years to appoint more judges to Court of Queen’s Bench, to little success.
Kenney was part of that federal government. He was also the political minister for southern Alberta, which makes recommendations on judge appointments.
Kenney said Wednesday a triage system wouldn’t be necessary because a UCP government would spend $10 million to hire 50 new Crown prosecutors and support staff, and develop recruitment and retention tools.
He said the UCP would also spend $5 million to expand drug treatment courts, give an additional $20 million to ALERT, and spend $2 million to expand electronic monitoring technology.
It would also require the justice department to file an annual report detailing the number of crimes committed by people on bail, probation and under conditional sentences, and prosecutors to provide courts with offenders’ criminal records during bail hearings.
NDP RURAL CRIME PLAN TO REMAIN
Kenney rejected $10 million in targeted rural crime funding last year when he voted against the justice portion of Budget 2018.
That cash went to hiring more Crown prosecutors, RCMP officers, bail hearing staff, court clerks and four new provincial court judges. RCMP statistics pointed to a drop in crime as a result.
Kenney admitted gains have been made under the NDP’s rural crime strategy and said he would continue the pilot project. He said cash for UCP initiatives would add to that funding.
“It’s true that from 2017-18 there was a very small decline (in crime), but the incidence of crime in 2018 was far above where it was in 2014, 2015, 2011, so let’s not minimize it,” he said.
United Conservative spokesperson Christine Myatt said Kenney and the UCP voted against the extra justice funding because it opposed the governing New Democrats’ overall fiscal plan.